


Please Arrange to Bump Into Me Again

by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Single Parents, Tumblr Prompt, selective mute character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23088973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/pseuds/letmetellyouaboutmyfeels
Summary: Wyatt and Flynn take their prospective kids to meet Santa.
Relationships: Garcia Flynn/Wyatt Logan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 33





	Please Arrange to Bump Into Me Again

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted here: https://letmetellyouaboutmyfeels.tumblr.com/post/180460670703/the-christmas-prompt-a-thon-continues-for

God, Wyatt hated these things.

He hated malls, he hated crowds, he hated screaming kids… because no, Sharon, wanting kids of his own and adoring Joy with all of his stupid busted heart did not mean he automatically adored every other whining little mess factory in existence.

Joy tugged on his hand, pressing into his leg. “You okay, sugar?” Wyatt asked, ruffling her hair. She had Jess’s cute button nose and his big blue eyes.

Joy nodded.

“Too many people?”

Joy nodded again.

“We can go home, if you want.”

Joy shook her head. “Santa.”

“Okay, sugar. Whatever you want.”

He led her through the crowd, probably keeping more of an eye on her and less of an eye on the people around him than he should’ve, until he ran smack into someone.

“Hey, watch it.”

“Watch yourself, pal.” Wyatt glared at the tall… um okay very tall… very, uh… wow…

“You got a problem?” Sex-on-a-stick asked.

“I don’t know, do you? Have a little Christmas spirit, it was an accident,” Wyatt replied, trying to keep his voice level. Nothing like having a kid for helping you try to learn to control your temper. He’d been taking breathing classes and everything.

The guy took a deep breath. “Sorry. Lots of people stress me out.”

“Same.” Hangover from the war PTSD. Fun times. “We’re just looking for the line for…”

“Santa?” The guy’s mouth quirked upwards and Wyatt’s stomach did a flip. “Yeah, same with us.”

That was when Wyatt noticed the tiny brunette bouncing at her dad’s side, an eager smile on her face. “I’m Iris!”

“Hi, Iris.” Wyatt waved. “I’m Wyatt.”

Iris waved back. “Who’s that?” she pointed at Joy.

“Iris, we don’t point. And she can answer for herself.”

“Ah, that depends on the day,” Wyatt admitted. “This is my daughter Joy. I gotta warn you Iris, she’s kind of shy, so maybe go slow?” He looked down at Joy and petted her hair. “You want to say hi?”

Joy nodded slowly, then gave Iris a tentative wave. Iris beamed at her. “You’re so pretty! I love your eyes!”

Joy blushed and smiled. “You’re pretty too.”

“You want to see Santa with me?”

Joy nodded.

“Okay. You don’t have to talk, I can do the talking. We’ll be a team.”

Wyatt looked up at the dad. “Ah, it seems your daughter’s adopted mine.”

The guy gave a wry smile. “She does that. Takes after her mother that way.”

That was when Wyatt saw the wedding ring. …fuck his life. “I bet she’s proud of her, she seems real sweet.”

Something flickered in the man’s eyes. “Yes, I’m sure she is.” He held out his hand. “Flynn.”

“Wyatt.” They shook. Fuck, the guy had a firm grip. And large hands. And… Bad, Wyatt, don’t think about that, you’re in public with your kid for Christ’s sake.

Iris led Joy into a place in line, chattering the whole time as Joy watched her with wide eyes. “I’m sorry about… she’s, ah, nonverbal a lot of the time.”

“It’s not a problem. Iris is… used to unusual kids.”

Wyatt snuck a glance at him. “Why’s that? If you don’t mind my asking.”

Flynn shrugged. “After her mom died, I took her to a group, thought it’d help her. Lots of kids there, after losing a parent, they go nonverbal, or act out, or… whatever.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

Flynn blew out a breath. “It is what it is.”

Wyatt wanted to tell him about Jess, about what happened, but you didn’t just dump that on a stranger two seconds after meeting them. “I lost my wife too. Just so—y’know. You’re not alone.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. I mean, we were in a rough patch. Looking back I can tell we were headed for divorce. Not sure if that makes it easier or not.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You two were madly in love then, huh?”

Flynn gave a pained almost-smile. “I suppose you could… put it that way.”

“I hope you don’t mind my asking,” Wyatt said, desperate to get off such a painful subject, “but where are you from? The accent, I just… I don’t recognize it.”

“Most people don’t. I’m Croatian. Moved to the states before Iris was born, though.”

“Ah. I’m from Texas. So if you hear a twang or something, forgive me.”

Flynn huffed out a laugh. “I’ll do my best to overlook such a flaw.”

“The men in my outfit used to give me such shit about it,” Wyatt admitted, trying to get Flynn to laugh again.

“Your outfit? You’re military?”

“Was.”

“Same here. It’s why I don’t like crowds.”

Wyatt had to lock his knees to keep them from buckling out of relief. “I feel like we should start a club. Post-military antisocial widows anonymous.”

Flynn laughed more strongly that time. Wyatt felt his gut melt. Both Iris and Joy looked up in surprise, then Iris started whispering in Joy’s ear as Joy nodded, a smile breaking out over her face.

“Hey, I hope this isn’t too much…” They moved up in line again. “…but Joy doesn’t really connect with a lot of kids. They don’t get why she doesn’t talk. If you’d like… maybe we could exchange numbers? Set up a play date?”

“Oh thank God, I wanted to say something but I’m shit at asking. Apparently I ‘piss off’ a lot of parents.” Flynn used air quotes and everything.

“Can’t imagine why, with your sunshine attitude.”

“I can’t do this because of our daughters but I’d like you to picture me holding up a very specific finger.”

Wyatt laughed. Flynn’s eyes softened and he looked inordinately pleased that he’d made Wyatt laugh. Wyatt dug out his phone, and Flynn dug out his.

“We’re almost there,” Iris told Joy. “Do you want me to ask Santa for you?”

Joy nodded.

“Okay!” Iris looked up and saw the phones. “What are you doing, Papa?”

“I’m getting Wyatt’s number so we can set up a play date for you and Joy. Is that okay, _moja draga_?”

Ohhhhhh fuck. Wyatt could feel his face heating up and focused in on his phone screen. Flynn speaking Croatian was… ah. Yeah. He knew what he’d be thinking about in the shower that night when Joy was asleep.

Iris nodded. She looked at Joy. “You wanna play with me?”

Joy looked at Wyatt. He knew by now that meant she was asking if it was okay. He smiled at her and nodded. Joy looked back at Iris and smiled, nodding her head enthusiastically.

“You’re good with her,” Flynn acknowledged. “I saw a lot of parents get upset when their kid was nonverbal. Is she on the spectrum?”

“Not as far as I know. No, it was… um…” Wyatt passed his hand over his eyes. “Sorry it’s just kind of morbid, y’know?”

Flynn gave him a ‘go on’ gesture.

Wyatt lowered his voice as they moved up the line. “Jess and I—Joy’s mom—we were separated. She had Joy for the night at this place she’d rented, and she picked her up and on the way home—they got into an accident. Deserted road, no cars passing. Joy was—she yelled for help, and she kept—she kept yelling and nobody came. She was stuck there for—for hours.” He took a deep, steadying breath. “Fuck, sorry.”

Flynn’s warm hand landed on his shoulder, grounding him. He didn’t say anything, thank God. Wyatt leaned into the touch, probably more than he should have. “Anyway after that she didn’t talk. Didn’t see the point in it, I think. When she’d made all the noise she could and nobody came. Messed me up real bad, that I wasn’t there. You feel like—like it’s your kid, you should just instinctively _know_ when something’s wrong, y’know?”

“Yes.”

“But, ah, my old buddy from the outfit, he got me the number of a counselor, and we… worked through things. She’s a lot better now.”

Flynn’s hand was still on his shoulder as they moved up. Both girls saw it, their eyes going wide, and then Iris was whispering even more frantically into Joy’s ear. “I think you did really well.”

“Thanks. And hey, you too. Single parenting isn’t easy.”

Flynn smiled down at his daughter. “Worth it, though.”

“Oh, so worth it.”

They were almost at Santa. Iris looked up at the two men, squinting suspiciously. “So if we have a play date, do you two have a play date too?”

“If we want,” Flynn said diplomatically.

Wyatt very much wanted. A grownup play date, though.

And yes by ‘play’ he meant sex. Sue him, the guy was enough to make anyone drool.

“I think you need more friends,” Iris said stubbornly.

“That’s… um… thank you?” Flynn finished, clearly unsure how to handle this.

Joy tugged on Wyatt’s hand, a sign for him to crouch down so she could whisper. “Daddy, could he be your boyfriend?”

“…where… did you get an idea like that?”

“He likes you.” Joy was, thanks to not talking, very good at picking up on people’s physical cues. “I can tell by how he stands at you.”

…she was less good at explaining how she picked up said physical cues.

“I’ll think about it, sugar.”

“But you need a boyfriend, Daddy. So you can be happy.”

Well that broke his fucking heart. “I am happy, Joy, I have you. You’re my joy, remember?”

Joy didn’t look convinced. “If I ask Santa, he’ll have to be your boyfriend. I was good all year, you said Santa would give me whatever I wanted because I was so good.”

Oh fuck him. “Ah, well, that would only be if Flynn was okay with it.”

Joy whispered to Iris, who then looked up at her dad. “Papa are you okay with being Wyatt’s boyfriend?”

Wyatt looked around for a spike to impale himself on, saw none, and resigned himself to being murdered by a hot as fuck Croatian vet in front of Santa and a dozen soon to be scarred children. “Please ignore whatever crazy idea got into my kid’s head.”

Flynn raised an eyebrow at him and Wyatt stood up, his heart thumping wildly. “I wasn’t aware you… I mean… it’s always awkward to ask if someone, ah, is into that kind of thing.”

“What?”

Flynn huffed in frustration. “What I’m trying to say is it’s hard to ask a guy out because first you have to ask if he’s into men and there’s no easy way to bring that into a conversation.”

“Fair enough.” Then the implications of that hit him. “Wait are you saying—”

“Papa it’s our turn!” Iris announced, and then she was dragging Joy over to see Santa.

Flynn leaned into him, his mouth right at Wyatt’s ear. Fuuuuck. “I’m saying if you want to set up a play date for them with a babysitter while I took you to this great pizza place I know…”

“Yes,” Wyatt said way too quickly for dignity. “I mean, um, yes, I’d like that.”

Flynn smiled at him, their hands brushing, and Wyatt was suddenly insanely grateful for this stupid mall and stupid Santa and these stupid people.

Iris and Joy scrambled off Santa’s lap and ran back over to their dads. “Hey, Iris,” Flynn said, his gaze never leaving Wyatt’s, “how’s a play date Friday night sound?”

Iris cheered. Wyatt could feel his face splitting wide with his own undoubtedly besotted grin. “Sounds perfect,” he said.


End file.
